32 Inter-Country Adoptees File Applications with CARA to Trace Biological Parents
In a poignant reflection of a growing global trend, 32 inter-country adoptees have submitted applications to the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) during the 2024–25 period, seeking to trace their biological parents. This information, obtained through an RTI response, highlights the increasing number of adults adopted abroad from India who are now returning to their birth country in search of answers that official documents have failed to provide.
The Unignorable Void in Identity
For many of these adoptees—now in their 30s, 40s, and 50s—the empty space in their personal histories has become impossible to ignore. They were part of hundreds of children sent abroad during an era when India's adoption landscape was characterized by a patchwork of private shelters, under-regulated agencies, and inconsistent documentation. Their search transcends mere curiosity about identity; it represents a confrontation with the silence that has been woven into the very fabric of their early lives.
Study Uncovers Systemic Documentation Failures
In February of last year, a groundbreaking study titled 'Mother Unknown' shed new light on the scale and complexity of inter-country adoptions between India and Switzerland. The research revealed that 2,278 Indian children were adopted into Swiss families from 1973 to 2002. A team comprising anthropologist Rita Kesselring, ethnologist Andrea Abraham, historian Sabine Bitter, and Mumbai-based social worker Asha Narayan Iyer examined 48 adoption files, uncovering a disturbing pattern: not a single file contained a deed of surrender, the critical document that confirms a birth mother's informed consent.
These essential papers had either vanished from Swiss public and private archives or, perhaps, never existed at all. Many files repeatedly featured the same chilling phrase: "mother unknown"—two words that have irrevocably shaped entire lives. The study elaborates on how birth mothers were systematically erased from documentation and public consciousness.
Andrea Abraham notes, "There is no discourse on the mother's perspective in India. It's as if the birth mother did not exist. We often heard about a need to protect mothers due to distressful life situations and social stigma, linked to unwed motherhood or rape. But if a mother wished to stay anonymous 30-50 years ago, how can we know that is still her desire today? It is like freezing her decision-making."
When Incomplete Paperwork Shapes Destiny
From the late 1960s onward, Indian children's homes, hospitals, police stations, and private shelters frequently transferred children to foreign adoption agencies, sometimes under murky financial arrangements where documentation was sparse or entirely missing. Even after regulations were tightened in the 1980s, intermediaries in India continued to exercise significant discretion over what information they recorded or shared. The consequence: thousands of children grew up across Europe with little to no knowledge of their origins.
In Switzerland, adoptive families often navigated these challenges alone. The study notes that health and education systems offered limited support, as institutions were unprepared for children whose racial, cultural, and emotional stories diverged drastically from the Swiss norm. Many adoptees later described childhoods marred by racism, confusion, and a profound longing for answers that no one around them could provide.
The Personal Journey of Root Searches
The study includes deeply personal accounts of root searches—some successful, many painful. One such story is that of Ratna, in her mid-40s, who traveled from Switzerland to Kolkata in 2018. Her adoption file indicated she had been brought to a children's hospital at 14 months old and remained there until her adoption, but it contained no surrender deed and few meaningful details.
Ratna first visited the hospital and then went to the orphanage listed in her documents, only to discover it had closed in the 1990s, with its registers and records long gone. "I never found out who my birth mother was," she says. Her experience is not an outlier but emblematic of many such journeys. For some adoptees, root searches lead to emotional reunions; for others, they end in dead-ends or awkward closures where decades of separation create more distance than connection. Every search is unique, yet nearly all are shaped by the quality—or lack thereof—of the accompanying records.
Legal Gaps and Lifelong Questions
Senior advocate Rakesh Kapoor, who specializes in adoption and children's rights, points out that the adoption process in the 1970s and '80s lacked transparency and accountability. "Courts would grant international adoptions only after perusing enough evidence that a child was fully relinquished or abandoned by the birth parent. Key documents like surrender deeds were to be provided to the courts by adoption agencies."
However, without strict checks, adoption agencies often failed to provide these documents. In some cases, children were already under the guardianship of future parents; in others, Indian social workers briefly acted as guardians before their responsibilities were transferred to Swiss counterparts. Abraham explains, "So, some children labeled as orphans on paper may not have been so. They may not have been found on the streets. We have to check sealed archives in courts for parental consent saying 'Yes, I am giving away my child.'"
An Unfinished Story of Reclamation
As adoptees continue to embark on root searches today, the inadequacies of past systems are resurfacing with renewed urgency. The 32 applications filed with CARA last year represent only the visible tip of a much larger global community seeking answers. What these adults desire is not merely a file or a name; they seek the opening chapter of their own story—one that was never fully written for them.
Ultimately, 'Mother Unknown' is a truth that many adoptees carry quietly, serving as a powerful reminder that identity is not just inherited—it is sought, rebuilt, and reclaimed, often one journey home at a time.
